Threats in the context of work and organizations: A Social Constructivist Psychological Analysis

Abstract

In the last decades, there has been an increase in the study of organizational phenomena and of work from discursive perspectives. Within these focuses, researchers have demonstrated the ways in which realities are constructed discursively and how power is materialized in discourse. In light of a crisis within social psychology, discursive contributions were included in addressing and conceptualizing psychological phenomena, which was generated by the constructivist movement. This article discusses the phenomenon of threats in the context of work from its discursive aspect, as well as of power. This discussion suggests that threats are an exercise of power that operates through discourse and has effects in the formation of subjectivities. Threats in the context of work are mediated both by management approaches and administrative practices, as well as by the social system of said context.